


Chess boy

by AntisocailIntrovert



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 18:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17126600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntisocailIntrovert/pseuds/AntisocailIntrovert
Summary: Is Dan really as bad as everyone makes him out to be? What if he's not the bullying person he acts like? What about the boy who plays chess





	Chess boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [completelyuncreative2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/completelyuncreative2/gifts).



> Hey, just to let you know I'm a pinch hitter so if this wasn't as good as you hoped I'm sorry :)  
> enjoy

Bad Boy // Dan  
Phil  
Au - I’m doing an alternate universe, where the writer explores the ideas of what ifs?

Chess boy

Cold again, Phil walked down the corridors. The thin exterior walls were keeping the sarcastic weather on the outside. He could hear them already, the loud bustling noises coming from down the green and white painted corridor. The kids screaming, well what sounded like screaming, Pierces Phils ears. Groups of teens shouted as it was a rave party to their friends a foot in front of them. Only half a year until he leaves this place, he thought. Until he’s free from all the, well, noise. But what if he doesn’t get away from this place, what if it’s not what he thinks it’s like out there?

As loud noises approached, he already knew it was Dan Howell and his gang. Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to be like one of them...maybe it’s better off if he just found his chess friends like normal, he thought to himself. The constant screaming was slowly getting closer; it sounded like a girl throwing a tantrum and before Phil knew it he was at the source of the screaming. A girl whose bag was being thrown around by Dan Howell and his mates. They were only trying to mess with her and annoy her, that’s what they were like. They were playing a game, a stupid one in fact. Whose stupid idea was it to throw a girl’s bag around, Phil thought to himself.

Phil never wanted to be like them nor did he really like them, and he thought they were stupid twats to be honest. Phil never had much respect or gratitude towards them, as they never did to him or anyone else. He had always wondered how Dan ended up in that group, since he didn’t grow up with them and he didn’t seem to be the, well, type? To be in that group. What if he hadn’t ended up in that group? Would he be sitting with Phil now at a table, waiting for his chess friends to arrive?

Phil had walked past the screaming girl who was throwing a tantrum. She’d get her bag back eventually, when they got bored. He was now sat at a table, searching the room for some other people that he knew. Unfortunately, he saw no one familiar. 

A large thud was heard by Phil as a boy placed his arse on the seat next to him and flung his arms on the table. Phil turned around to look at the boy straight in the eye. It was Dan Howell... Phil assumed he had come just to mess with him, that one of his friends dared him to go annoy the chess boy over here. 

Dan looked at Phil directly, scanning Phil’s body up and down. He planted his eyes, fixed on the peachy coloured skin on Phil’s neck. 

Phil looked at him confused about what he was doing.“What are you doing?” Phil asked abruptly.

“Nothing.” 

“Then what the hell are you doing here!” Phil exclaimed, getting annoyed now.

“You’re cute,” Dan casually said before walking away, looking quite smug.

Phil decided to take no notice of whatever just happened and to just scroll through his phone before fifth period started. He assumed one of Dan's friends dared him to come chat him up. Was a plausible explanation. Maybe Phil was wrong though…

English. The sound of the word made Phil sleepy. Going over Romeo and Juliet for the third year in a row was like death in a nutshell. Phil’s teacher was probably the most boring teacher he had ever had. She never seemed interested in anything and she loved giving out worksheets and just letting them get on with it. She didn't care about the kids who shouted out in lesson, and she didn't care that Dan threw paper airplanes around the class. 

Ironically, Dan was smart; he was one of those kids who acted dumb but was actually quite bright. Phil felt like Dan never wanted to be seen as bright, as his friends would pick on him. Maybe Dan wanted to be different or maybe he wanted the attention or friends. Phil could never come to a conclusion to all the possible questions his brain racked up.

Phil hated it when people had no care in the world or didn't seem to be bothered about anything, how little people thought of others. How everything was changing in such a short period of time. 

English dragged, the seconds felt like minutes and the minutes felt like hours. Phil had about given up on everything when he heard the bell go off. He couldn't be bothered anymore to analyse speech from people, and all he wanted to do was go home and sleep. Unfortunately, he had to revise for the mock he had tomorrow. He had enough of the unruly wild class and the teacher who didn't seem to care. He wanted out of this. 

Phil threw his stuff in his bag and basically ran out the classroom, the smell of freedom filling his lungs. Finally home time, he thought. Well that's what he thought... maybe if he had just got out of class a little earlier or waited behind a little longer, then he wouldn't have bumped into Dan and his mates.

“Watch where you're going, you twat!” One of Dan's friends shouted.

“I-I’m sorry.” Phil wondered if they were just going to leave him alone now. Maybe if Phil ran he’d get away. In a different universe a different Phil would be doing different things; maybe he would be part of that so called gang. He'd never know. Phil decided to try to quietly walk away. He was stopped by someone pulling at his white collar.

“Where do you think you’re going so quick? We’ve not finished!” 

Phil gulped, hard. He could tell the rest of them saw this, as a few let out small, sadistic chuckles. Everyone except one started to come close to him and herd around him. Phil was beginning to feel smaller and smaller by the minute. One got close to him and looked him dead in the eye, and Phil felt his blood pressure drop. His face must have gone pale. He was so scared .

“Leave him alone for a change,” Dan piped in. 

“Oh fuck off, Howell. Just let us have our fun.”

“You’re so pathetic! Why do you want to hurt people?”

“I said fuck off, Howell, else you’ll be next.”

“Don’t hurt him, just mess his papers up or something!”

“How many times do I have to tell you, go away. You’re useless when it comes to this!”

Phil saw Dan look around, and move from side to side. Not staying still, moving anxiously in his step, until... 

One threw a punch to his left side. Phil lost his thoughts. It hurt a lot, Phil wasn’t going to lie. Why are they doing this, he mentally asked himself. He didn’t understand how some people could be so cruel and have no care in the world. Phil let out a louder scream of agony. He’s never been beaten up before, never! But why was this happening now?

He saw Dan just run off. Why did these lads have no respect whatsoever? One boy pushed him to the ground. Phil was surprised that he wasn’t already on the ground by now; they’d had enough play for today by the looks of it. So they walked off, leaving Phil to collect his papers that had been thrown around.

The corridor walls were beginning to look worse. Phil once saw bright colours, but now he saw dismal and drab colours. He wondered what had happened to him. He’d lost hope. What if someone could change this?

As he began to pull himself up from the floor, he heard footsteps coming. He’d had his back turned so he couldn’t see, but he felt rather intimidated now as he couldn’t see the approaching person. What if they were back to finish him off this time?

Phil was rather shocked to feel a warm hand being placed on his shoulder; he was confused by who this was. He thought it was a teacher, but the hand was almost too gentle to be a teacher.  
“Let’s get you up,” the voice said, sounding strange yet comforting. It was rather nice, Phil thought, that someone was trying to help him, though he still didn’t know who it was. Phil decided to turn around and face the... boy? He thought it was a boy at least, the voice was soft and mellow but had an underlying tone of deepness. 

The boy he turned around to face was slightly tanned, a light dusting of pink spread across his cheeks. His eyes, Phil thought you could get lost in them, deeps swirls of hazelnut and auburn with specks of sienna dotted around. His hair, well, it almost looked like he’d been dragged through a hedge backwards but that’s why Phil loved it more; the coffee coloured curls, they were just beautiful, Phil wondered how anyone could even create them. They were impeccable. There was one curl that hung on his forehead, breaking free from the nest that the rest lived in. Even then Phil thought that was the cutest thing he’d seen all day. 

Phil soon realised who he was glaring back at. He’d realised that the one boy who didn’t do anything had come back and helped him. But why, Phil thought. Dan wasn’t the nicest of people; he annoyed people and didn’t behave. But maybe he did have feelings like everyone else, maybe he did care about others. Phil wondered. He’d been confused about this boy for so long and now finally he might be getting some answers; maybe he wasn’t as bad as he tried to be? What if Phil was right and Dan was just this smart person who didn’t let it show? But what if he was wrong and he wasn’t what Phil imagined him to be and really was just stuck in his ways?

Phil took Dan's hand when he offered it out to him to get him up. It was soft and gentle like he expected it to be; it wasn’t rough like everyone else’s was. 

“What are you doing here?” Phil looked to the ground, shuffling his step.

“I came back to see if you were okay.” 

Phil now looked at Dan again. Dan didn’t get out of this easy either, he had a deep blue bruise on his face and scratches along his neck. His blazer and trousers had been ripped; it looked like he had fallen over. Maybe he was running away from them too? 

“I’m fine but what happened to you?” Phil asked him; he realised he’d never actually had a proper convo with this boy but all seemed too easy to talk to him as if nothing ever mattered what he said to Dan.

“I got caught, I imagined one of them would come after me after I tried to stick up for the victim again.” Phil’s heart sank a little after he said ‘again’. Phil had hoped that Dan did this especially for him. He was glad that Dan had stuck up for other people, he just wished they were thinking on the same page.

“You look like you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards!” Phil laughed.

“Thanks for the compliment, you don’t look great yourself!” Phil felt Dan place his hand on Phil’s face; it was warm and tender and Dan rubbed his thumb on Phil’s cheek, wiping away the tear that fell from Phil’s eye subconsciously. Phil looked down trying to avoid Dan's gaze; he could feel a warm flush spread across his cheeks.

Phil was confused to say the least. He didn't understand why Dan was helping him all of a sudden. They'd never spoke and you wouldn't say they were friends. They were polar opposites! Phil looked at the boy standing in front of him, his fingers trembling, breath hitching.

“Why are you even here?” Phil asked again, cautiously.

“Because I couldn't leave you here alone.”

“So it's out of guilt.”

“What, no Phil! I care about you unlike them useless pricks.”

“You’re just saying that, so I don't report it. You can go now, I won’t report it.”

“Phil! Listen to me for a moment, what I said earlier. At lunch, I meant it and i'm not doing this because I don't want you to report it.” Dan replied.

Phil saw Dan's eyes drop to the floor, his feet playing with a wrapper that somebody dropped earlier. Phil almost felt the pain in Dan's voice. Something about what he said felt so real, as if he really meant it. What if he did mean what he said at lunch, what if Phil was just being stubborn because he was annoyed with Dan's friends and now he was taking it out on the gentle boy in front of him? Dan's eyes were full of regret when he looked back up at Phil, as if he regretted everything he said like he'd let too much out and now he was too deep to get back out. The boy who had a hard reputation was breaking out and spilling his emotions that he had kept hidden for so long, over one chess nerd.

“I'm sorry I just don't get it, why now, why today?” Phil said; he could of kissed him there and then, what if he did?

“Look at me..” Dan was tripping over his words and his hands shakily took Phil’s. He looked at Phil; he didn't pull back out of his grip. He took a breath to steady his breathing. He looked at Phil in his eyes as if to ask him if this was okay. He replied with a simple nod. So simple and so basic yet that was all that Dan needed to change everything.

Dan came closer to Phil, pulling at Phil’s chin slightly. Closing the heated gap between them, Dan's soft lips gently touched Phil’s. Dan pulled back a little at first but Phil caught him and closed the gap again.

Phil always knew that Dan had a softer side but he never let it show. Yet one event to the person he non-admittedly loved and he'd let it all out. He never did seem like the bullying boy he showed everyone. He was soft and did care and have feelings. It's funny how someone can change your outer shell.

Phil ran his long fingers through Dan's hair whilst Dan put his arms around Phil’s waist, pulling him closer and pushing their bodies against each others. Phil felt a surge of happiness from an unknown place. Dan was just glad to be free from the weight that was always a burden on him; he liked the chess boy, Phil Lester. They broke apart to get a breath of fresh air. They instantly pulled into a strong hug, filled with so many emotions - lust, joy, relief and fondness. Dan rested his head on Phil’s shoulder. 

“Thank you,” he whispered ever so gently into Phil’s ear.

This wasn't just some high school fling. This was a relationship to last for a lifetime. They'd finally got each other and there was no letting go. They'd found so many things out that day, they found themselves. They made each other happy unlike anyone else. 

Phil looked over at Dan who was holding his hand across the table, whilst he moved the piece on the black and white checked board.


End file.
